Open House Melbourne Weekend 2025 features almost 200 buildings and experiences across one weekend in July.
The annual architecture festival has unveiled one of its largest programs in history, with rare access to Melbourne’s most fascinating buildings and private homes ordinarily closed to the public. Open House Melbourne Weekend 2025 runs across Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July, with the theme Stories of the City revealing secret histories hidden behind closed doors.
This year’s program features several exciting firsts, including public access to Melbourne’s most high-profile infrastructure projects. The new Veloway on the West Gate Tunnel Project and Port Phillip’s new EcoCentre will open their doors for the first time during the weekend.
Open House Melbourne 2025
- Melbourne-wide locations
- Saturday 26 July and Sunday 27 July 2025
- Full program available at openhousemelbourne.org
- Tickets released from 2 July
Program highlights
- First time access to the new Veloway on the West Gate Tunnel Project and Port Phillip’s new EcoCentre
- Tours of the city’s most high profile street art studios including Rone and Callum Preston
- A city-wide role-playing game set in Melbourne in the year 2050 called Reworlding Naarm
- A kayak tour down the Yarra to learn about the river’s First Nation’s history and ecology
- Access to the player’s only areas at the home grounds of the Western Bulldogs Football Club and Melbourne Vixens
- Visit unusual sites like the Essendon Fields Airport Terminal, Crumpler’s Bag House, and backstage tours of Melbourne theatres
- The new 21-hectare elephant habitat at the Werribee Open Range Zoo
- Access to Melbourne’s most beautiful and sustainable private homes including Naples St House by Edition Office, the Robin Boyd winner at the National Architecture Award
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The program includes access to unusual sites like the Essendon Fields Airport Terminal and the new 21-hectare elephant habitat at Werribee Open Range Zoo. Sports fans can explore player-only areas at the Western Bulldogs Football Club’s Mission Whitten Oval and the Melbourne Vixens’ athlete performance centre at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
Street art enthusiasts can tour studios belonging to celebrated artists including Rone and Callum Preston, while architecture lovers can visit Melbourne’s most beautiful private homes, including Naples St House by Edition Office, winner of the Robin Boyd Award at the 2024 National Architecture Awards.
The festival also features a city-wide role-playing game called Reworlding Naarm, set in Melbourne in 2050, and a First Nations kayak tour down the Yarra River exploring the waterway’s ancient ecology and cultural significance.
Over 65,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event, making it Oceania’s largest architecture and built environment festival. The program celebrates good design’s importance in shaping communities as Melbourne heads towards becoming a city of eight million people.
2025 program scale
- Over 190 buildings and unique experiences in the program this year
- 13 private residences open to the public
- 10 churches/places of worship
- 4 sporting facilities
- 3 street art studios
- 14 educational institutions
New accessibility features include an interactive Access Map, created with accessibility experts to highlight fully accessible venues that are mobility-friendly and neurodiverse-considerate.
“Stories of the City underscores that idea that the city is more than just bricks and mortar—Melbourne is about people and place,” Executive Director and Chief Curator, Dr Tania Davidge, explained. “Every building, street and public place in our city has a unique story to uncover, and Open House Melbourne Weekend is your best time to explore the secret histories of our city hidden behind closed doors.
“To celebrate this year’s Open House Melbourne’s Weekend theme, we invite all Melburnians to share their own stories by contributing to a special exhibition, held over the weekend, at the Bates Smart Gallery. Visit the gallery and share your stories of the city.”
For more information, head here.
